Tech less generous to Hill newbies than telecoms

Google, Facebook and Microsoft regularly take business risks to boost their bottom lines. But those companies were much less interested in taking political risks this election season and supporting congressional newcomers.

The three tech firms, combined, gave to only a few members of the incoming House and Senate freshman classes, even as telecom behemoths like AT&T, Verizon and Comcast together showered more than half of all newly elected lawmakers with big bucks in the 2012 cycle, according to a POLITICO analysis of campaign-finance data.

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The decision to avoid new congressional candidates is understandable for an industry that’s relatively new to the Washington influence game: Google only this year hit the gas on its election giving, and Facebook’s political action committee is not very old.

Still, those three tech industry leaders are lagging behind other companies and sectors that long have used campaign dollars to develop policy champions on Capitol Hill.

“The average person running for Congress is not going to be up on the individual issues” in tech and telecom, said Bill Allison, editorial director of the Sunlight Foundation. Donating to freshman lawmakers, though, helps companies “have that contact,” he added, “and you can start talking about what those issues are and get them around to your viewpoint.”

Google, for instance, gave to only six of the more than 80 House freshmen heading to Washington next year. Instead, it spent most of its money on incumbents — all the while separately growing its inside-the-Beltway lobbying operation by millions of dollars this year.

Microsoft — which has a more established campaign apparatus and an older Washington presence — backed 13 newcomers to the House, while Facebook didn’t support a single one, according to campaign-finance data.

The companies, however, were a little more willing to donate to newcomers in some key Senate races. Both Google and Microsoft heavily supported incoming GOP Sen. Jeff Flake in Arizona and Democratic Sen. Chris Murphy of Connecticut. And Google and Facebook both backed newly elected Maine Sen. Angus King, an independent who will caucus next year with Democrats. None of the companies, however, would comment to POLITICO.